To compare the nature of online
and face to face interactions as instructional contexts

To reflect on those experiences
from an instructional communication perspective

To account for (explain) the
affordances and limitations of various mediated experiences by
applying relevant communication theory.

Introduction:

In order to accomplish this
assignment you will need to start immediately
so you have sufficient time to find and subscribe to
appropriate online lists, discussion groups or courses that
provide sufficient “traffic” for you to assess the
experiences.You will participate
with those lists, discussions or courses you subscribe as well
as and online discussions in our class that may emerge.Time is needed to ensure the lists
are sufficiently active and for you to experience their nature
and quality.Also, you will
encounter technical problems that will take time to solve—all
part of the mediated instructional context.

You should take
notes about your experiences regularly so you have a record of
your cognitive and affective (even skill) changes as you
explore the online learning environment.

The assignment
has three parts that I explain below.

Part I:I have provided you a list of URLs (Web site addresses)
as starting points for your analysis of electronic
media as delivery channel for instruction.Part of this assignment necessitates you joining some
discussion groups related to instruction via electronic
channels. (Course, List, or Blog
)

Courses:Here are three possible sources
to get you started--

Khan AcademyKhan's blurb: "Khan Academy is an organization on a mission.
We're a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the
better by providing a free world-class education for anyone
anywhere."

Saylor.Org "Harnessing technology to make
education free." Feel free to take one of these
courses (or look through the catalog for another you'd like to
try)

Read the directions for
subscribing at the top and try some out.Keep a record of your sign-ups and keep the response
you get from any successful subscription so you know how to
unsubscribe if and when you need to do so.

Then
click,
"Join
or leave list."Historically,
this list provides lots of information and opportunity for
lots of interaction, but can get a little tedious.

Blog:
While lists are still used, blogs seem to be replacing
them. Here's one that you may want to read and comment on:
http://tlt-swg.blogspot.com/The TLT
(Teaching/Learning with Technology) Group sponsors this one.

Here are some of the questions to guide your
thinking as you go through the semester:

·How
does the context of communication and instruction via
electronic media differ from that of the communication context
present in the traditional classroom?

·What
are the affordances of the electronic media as a
channel for communication designed to instruct?

·What
are the weaknesses or limitations of electronic channels in
communicating with students?What
are the strengths of these channels in facilitating learning?

·What
knowledge do we already possess (i.e. what theory do we have)
that can guide our best use of this medium?

·What
do we need to learn in order to make best use of these
media?

These questions
are intended only to provide starting points; if you wish
to use one or all of them, you may.If
you wish, ignore them and pose other questions you feel
are more important or interesting.

Part II: You will have some
assigned readings regarding the topic of electronic media and
instruction, the material from the TLT blog, my web page, electronic journals and other
material you discovered which you will use as basic resources
for your analysis.

Part III: Prepare a 5-7 page
analysis of your experience with electronic media.This analysis will use ideas drawn
from our class readings as well as from your own reading on
the subject.

RECOMMENDED
STRUCTURE OF THE PAPER (If you decide to create sections
related to the topics below, be sure to create logical
transitions to integrate the parts—these are not three
mini-papers.) The best essays are conceptual wholes.

Part 1:

Exploration: explore the present and potential
structure of electronic communication in the classroom; what
will the communication system look like?How will it be different from the present face-to-face
system?Where and how will
instruction take place?How will
those differences impact instruction as a communication
process?

Part II:

Explanation: using relevant communication
theory, account for present uses of electronic communication
(or lack thereof) in the classroom; account for your
experiences both good and bad.What
worked and why?What did not work
and why?

(Use the course
readings, material you have discovered in research
–expected—and this book available online:Theory & Practice of Online Education, 2nd edition, edited by Terry
Anderson and Fathi Elloumi.)http://www.aupress.ca/books/Terry_Anderson.php

Part III: Speculation:
speculate on how electronic media will re-shape the
instructional context (or will the context affect the
structure of the media?)What
will we have to know more about in order to communicate most
effectively given the availability and use of electronic
media?

Use the APA stylebook to format
this paper.(If you don't have a style book,
use the on-line versions listed in the syllabus.)

·The
essay treats all three areas of the assignment: exploration,
explanation and speculation.

·Evidence
of
exploration
is present in the essay in the form of examples, illustrations
and narratives of your experience.

·Explanation
is
grounded
in appropriate and sufficient communication theory to account
for your experiences and those of others you include.

·Speculation
is
logically
related to explanation; present and future have some
connection; experience and theory are connected, too.

·The
essay is free of spelling and grammatical errors.

·The
essay is properly formatted using APA stylebook.

E-journals

These journals are
concerned about doing education online. However, note, the writers
rarely treat communication theory or practices explicitly.Be careful not to apply statements
from the journals to any discussion of instructional
communication without first considering whether or not the
content is consistent with theory we employ.For example, media tools are central to many of the
discussions, but the symbolic and semantic qualities of media
are almost never discussed.Advocating media use for the
sake of convenience, for example, is a wrong-headed
rationale for its use.